Accidental superheroes
by renrenren3
Summary: High school AU. Dean is the popular kid on the football team, Cas is the weird kid that everyone on the football team makes fun of. Except, they're both wearing superhero shirts today, and this is just the beginning.


Pontiac, Illinois, isn't exactly a thriving metropolis but Dean thinks he can live with it. It's not the worst place ever, and compared to their last place this motel is paradise. He would have lost track of how many times they moved this semester if it wasn't for Sammy repeating it every morning at breakfast.

("Four times already and it's only November, and I liked it back in Columbus, I was going to get extra credit for my project on the solar system. Now I'm stuck with doing geology, again."

"Eat your cereals, Sammy, nobody cares about the solar system.")

The best part is that he arrived right during tryouts for football and he somehow managed to get on the team. The school's team is rubbish and hardly won a match last year, Dean never played before and he can barely remember all of the rules, but the cheerleaders are hot and anyway it's not as if they'll stay here for more than a week. Just enough for dad to track down a vengeful spirit and for Dean to score with a cheerleader.

Dean thinks that Sam's life would be so, so much easier if he cared less about the solar system and more about cheerleaders.

("There aren't cheerleaders in middle school, Dean," Sammy says, and he's got a look like he's not going to ever care for cheerleaders anyway because they're not nerdy enough or something, which is blasphemy in Dean's eyes because, dude, miniskirts! But for the sake of his kid brother Dean decides to drop the subject for the time being.)

The downside of being on the football team is that Dean has to do stupid stuff like go to football practice. He's never mastered the subtle art of actually showing up for classes in time, or at all, but Coach Andrews is a sadistic bastard and threatened to kick Dean off the team if he was late again. Dean is so not letting a week of wearing tight pants and running laps go to waste, not when he's that close to getting past first base with Anna the head cheerleader.

So Dean is running through the corridors with his gym bag one rainy Thursday afternoon, and the last thing he wants to see when he turns the corner is three other guys on the team surrounding a shorter boy in a ridiculously oversized trench coat.

That's not true actually, there's other things that would be much, much worse, like ghosts or poltergeists, but staying in the realm of the non-supernatural, this is pretty bad. Because Dean is late and he doesn't want to get involved in someone else's fight, but this kid is small and scrawny and seriously looks as if he's about to cry. And, come on, didn't anyone teach these bullies not to pick on the small and scrawny?

He's still debating the merits of walking past without getting involved when the kid turns to look at him. Dean is pretty sure that the kid's lower lip is quivering. And, damn his bad judgment and sudden growth of a conscience, Dean Winchester can't just ignore small scrawny kids with oversized trench coats and quivering lips. He steps in front of the bullies before his brain has quite decided what he's going to do next.

"What's going on?" he says, staring at his teammates. "We're late for practice."

One of the bullies, a guy with a buzz cut who strongly reminds Dean of a gorilla, smirks. "Want to join in on the fun, new guy?" he asks.

"Come on," Dean says, giving gorilla guy what he hopes is a conciliatory grin. "Three against one? Where's the fun in that, he's half your size!"

The kid gives him a hopeful look but the three bullies laugh and crack their knuckles and Dean remembers he's never been that good at conciliation in the first place.

"So what?" one of them says. "He's been asking for it, going around dressed like a freak and talking to himself..."

"It's my dad's coat," the kid says, and Dean is startled because he expected him to have a piping voice or something. His voice is not high-pitched at all, but it's hard to make out what he's saying because he speaks softly, as if he doesn't really want to be heard. Which is probably true, since his words are met with more laughter.

"You see? He needs to be taught a lesson."

Before Dean can say anything, gorilla guy steps forward and shoves the scrawny kid, hard. He stumbles backwards and flails, trying to regain his balance without falling on his arse, trench coat sliding off his shoulders. This is apparently very funny for the bullies.

"Look, he's wearing a Superman shirt," gorilla guy says, pointing, as if this fact is somehow hilarious. By now Dean has figured that he's the boss, probably because he's also the stupidest. "Why don't you jump into a telephone booth and transform? You can change in the toilets if you want, girls' bathrooms are right here."

One of the other guys clenches his fist and aims it at the kid, and that's when Dean drops his gym bag and twists the guy's other arm behind his back. The bully gives a pained yell and everyone turns toward him. "That's enough, guys," Dean says. "Leave him alone."

The bullies stare at him with the usual disbelief of bullies who never had anyone stand up to them. At least, the two that don't have one shoulder threatening to dislodge from its socket stare at Dean. The other bully just whimpers. "What's this, some kind of lame superhero club?" gorilla guy asks. "Batman and Superman, is it?"

Dean gives him a puzzled look, then looks down and notices he's wearing his old Batman shirt today. It's more than a little faded and the hem is all frayed, but laundry for Dean has always been on a strict need-to basis and there is no need to do laundry if there is still a perfectly good Batman shirt in his duffel bag.

"So what, you got a problem with that?" Dean tells gorilla guy. He considers his chances of taking on all three bullies. Then he considers his chances of doing so and not getting his face beaten into a pulp that would ruin all of his chances with Anna. Then he wishes he really was a superhero, so he could have superpowers or gadgets or at least send a telepathic message to the scrawny kid and tell him to get the hell out of here while his tormentors are distracted.

Because it looks if Dean is going to get beaten up for the sake of some kid not getting beaten up, he would like it if at least the kid managed to get away.

He stares at the Superman kid and the kid stares back, and he just stands there looking in equal parts worried and dazed and grateful. Dean thinks that he does look a little alien, with his trench coat and his dark hair sticking up in all the wrong places and the bluest eyes he's ever seen, which is stupid since Dean is pretty sure Superman has black eyes.

Then he realizes he's been thinking about Superman's eye color while two bullies are closing in on him, make that three bullies as soon as their friend breaks free from Dean's grip, and this is so not healthy.

"Get lost, Superman," Dean tells the kid.

The kid hovers in place for a moment and bites his lower lip. "Thank you," he says, his voice so low that he could as well just have mouthed the words. Then he (finally, thankfully) runs off down the corridor and disappears behind a corner.

Dean gives gorilla guy his best shit-eating grin and prepares to have seven kinds of shit beaten out of him.

He's saved, much to his surprise, by Coach Andrews' whistle coming from the courtyard. "Team!" Coach's voice booms. "I don't care if it rains, the last man on the field gets fifty laps. Get your asses here, right this moment!"

Grudgingly, two of the bullies step back, Dean lets go of the third one and they silently agree that this can be settled later.

It's not until he's on the lockers, tossing his Batman shirt aside and tugging on his football uniform, that Dean realizes that he doesn't even know the Superman kid's name.


End file.
